Surryey Landlords And Other BC Landlords Can Raise the Rent Up To 2.9% in 2016

Surrey landlords know our costs keep going up every year.

It’s not just the costs of electricity or taxes. It’s the costs of paying paying high quality and professional contractors to maintain our excellent rental properties. And if we rent to BC Bad Tenants the costs will explode and can cost thousands of dollars.

After all we want to keep our rental properties in excellent shape and that means upgrading and constantly fixing things And the list of things to upgrade and maintain never seems to end.

Whether it’s a new roof to keep our tenants warm and dry during a rainy, a new door to make sure they are safe and secure, or a new high efficiency toilet to help keep water costs down, we are good landlords who want to make sure we take care of our hard working tenants and make sure your rental properties are in great shape!

Surrey Landlords and British Columbia Landlords Can Raise the Rent 2.9% in 2016

Even with their current NDP government they are allowed to raise the rent as much as the market sees fit, although they must follow the rules on how to do so.

Surrey Landlords Are You Going To Raise The Rent in 2016?

With rising costs and the appreciation of properties (making it even more expensive to buy a rental property) you need to make sure you costs are being covered (at least partially). This is why successful and experience BC landlords are raising the rent in 2016.

We also know our business costs are rising every year and we need to keep the rent up to at least try to cover these increasing costs.

This is why we are interested in what the government rent guideline is because the province of British Columbia has what is called ‘rent control’.

What is Rent Control?

This means the government has their hands in our industry and can tell us what we can and cannot do, including how much we can raise rents for current tenants in our properties. Alberta landlords do not have rent control.

The percentage is based on inflation plus two per cent. While the yearly rental increase cap is meant to be the maximum amount rents can go up, most landlords usually opt to raise rents by the full rate.

A 2.5 per cent increase means rent on a $1,000-per month one bedroom apartment will go up by 25 dollars a month, or $300 a year.

This sentiment is shared by many landlords, especially small landlords who are on tight budgets, have mortgages to pay, and spend money to maintain their properties.

Unfortunately, instead of focussing on high taxes, gas and electricity costs, rates for contractors, plumbers and electricians, it’s easy for the government to blame landlords for rising costs.

What If My Tenants Disagree With the Rent Increase?

We recommend you talk to your tenants and explain the real situation small landlords face.

Explain your increasing costs and that you are running a business. Most good tenants will understand and appreciate your explanation. This is why it’s so important to rent to good reasonable tenants and why tenant screening, including running a BC landlord credit check on your tenants is essential!

BC Landlords Can Raise the Rent 2.5% in 2015

Make Sure You Rent To Good Tenants Who Will Understand Why You Need To Raise The Rent For Your Rental Business!

The serial bad tenants owe her almost $8,000 in lost rent and she isn’t going to take it lying down.

She took her ex-renters to small claims court. She won a judgement for the lost rent.

Did They Pay The Rent They Owed Her?

Kind of.

They began to pay the large judgement slowly and it didn’t satisfy this landlord!

A judge gave an order to the ex-trents to pay the owed rent fast or they could go to prison.

That’s right: pay the rent or go to jail!

Parasad has generously offered to help other landlords go through the process. She says there were things she should have done to make the process proceed faster.

Avoid Hassles By Running Credit Checks on Tenants

We congratulate Parasad for winning the judgment. However, the small claims court process is slow and clever tenants will defend themselves vigourously in court. You are never guaranteed to get a judgement for the money owed to you.

The smart solution for BC landlords is to avoid renting to bad tenants in the first place.

Make sure you screen your tenants carefully BEFORE renting to them.

A tenant credit check would provide the “red flags” needed for smart landlords to avoid renting to these serial bad tenants. Even Alberta landlords are learning to always run a tenant credit check to verify what potentials say and promise.